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[More Fun To Compute]

Genre results do not mean that much because we did not vote here on categories like "best soundtrack" or "best puzzles." You could put Portal 2 and Catherine on both puzzle and adventure lists but how many people here actually bought and played them because they are big puzzle game fans.

 

[Dark Schala]

If Tactics Ogre was not counted, I'm going to destroy this thread.

Oh my...

Probably just a mistake on their part.

 

[Lothars]

MGS4 and Little Big Planet in top 10? Awful voting that year Gaf!!!

You mean great voting, MGS4 deserved the GOTY and still does.

 

[VerTiGo]

Nice to see Xenoblade being so high in the High Quality Award.

Kudos to GAF on that one. Hope it helps make bigger hype. I got mine pre-ordered. I hope it does well. I want to see bigger things from Monolith on the Wii U.

 

[Haunted]

Yeah, I disregard the genre awards since they don't really work with a lot of hybrid games. (sorry timetokill )

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

Wouldn't let it near my Top 50, but if some sad sack wants to vote for it, sure.

Our opinion on this matter differs substantially.

 

[duckroll]

Oh my...

Probably just a mistake on their part.

They have been PM'd! We should have an answer eventually.

 

[WrenchNinja]

It always will come down to local or online versus competitive play, even if its two ten year old brothers playing against each other.

Are you saying two ten year old brothers are going to like MvC3 more than MK9? Or are you saying the opposite?

 

[Durante]

So much furor about Tactics Ogre when it's clearly evident that Corpse Party was robbed of its spot in the horror list. General bias against PSP or just a sequence of unfortunate coincidences? You decide.

Spoiler

I'm certain that it's the latter.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I had no idea Child of Eden was a rhythm game.

I should probably play my copy. It's just gathering dust in the original shrinkwrap.

 

[duckroll]

I had no idea Child of Eden was a rhythm game.

I should probably play my copy. It's just gathering dust in the original shrinkwrap.

It's not.

 

[Curufinwe]

Oh my...

Probably just a mistake on their part.

duckroll gonna enforce the Law.

 

[Slamtastic]

There really was no competition for it this year.

Basically.

I still wouldn't vote for MvC3 regardless of the presence of any other games in the genre.

It always will come down to local or online versus competitive play, even if its two ten year old brothers playing against each other.

Even ignoring the fact that it's a matter of opinion, plenty of other genres with large online competitive multiplayer communities and live tournaments for money have campaigns that are sizeable and worth playing, and some people play through them and get their $60. But I guess games can only have the features you are going to use.

And since it's on the competitive level, whereas Mortal Kombat is not, and rightfully so

Spoilers: It is, with actual factual basis of people entering for it at events. "Competitive" and "tourney worthy" is only defined by people actually entering for them, which they have, repeatedly.

I'm going to be frank and say that you are biased and ignorant. Sub GameFAQS level posts, bordering into stream chat territory. Fighting game threads prove that NeoGAF isn't as intelligent and mature of a community as it likes to believe.

 

[Haunted]

They have been PM'd! We should have an answer eventually.

mods playing favourites and PMing members to get a certain game on the list?

scandalous

 

[ultron87]

I had no idea Child of Eden was a rhythm game.

I should probably play my copy. It's just gathering dust in the original shrinkwrap.

I guess it has rhythm in that it has music that responds to the gameplay. But beyond that it is a straight up rail shooter.

I need to beat the last level of that. I stopped after doing it with Kinect made my arm hurt and never played it again.

 

[Papercuts]

Are Tactics Ogre and/or Corpse Party downloadable on the PS3? I want to play both but I don't have a PSP anymore.

 

[Augemitbutter]

If Tactics Ogre was not counted, I'm going to destroy this thread.

 

[StuBurns]

This is why exclusion is lame. It makes no sense. If a port came out in 2011, and for someone that port is somehow his or her GOTY, why shouldn't it count? If enough people feel that way and such a port becomes the GOTY, it is not unfair to the other games which lost a position because of it. Instead it says something about the rest of the new games if people don't like them as much.

What about repeated plays though? Right now for example, Xenoblade will be facing three years running of releases, right now you can't vote for it more than once. Ico HD is the best game released this year, but I don't think it's really fair to vote for it as such having played it years ago, even if it was eligible.

Child of Eden is a rhythm game kind of, your points rely on doing your lock shots to the beat.

 

[Stumpokapow]

I wouldn't care if the game legitimately didn't get enough votes to show up anywhere. I just think that if we do a GOTY thread, we should have total transparency and let everyone vote what they want. There is no point to having specific rules which serve to exclude games which are released within that year, and which people want to vote for. Makes no sense to me.

I agree with the "no ports/rereleases" rule in general, but there are exceptions for remakes or significantly enhanced/remade ports, and I thought TO was asked about in the voting thread and specifically allowed owing to the nature of the release.

 

[VerTiGo]

Are you saying two ten year old brothers are going to like MvC3 more than MK9? Or are you saying the opposite?

That's not what I am saying at all. Things like story mode were mentioned as to why Mortal Kombat is a more complete backage. I fail to see how fluff makes a game more complete... when at its core versus play, either local or online, is what's going to keep you playing the game. What I meant with the "two brothers" is that despite story mode and character creators, etc... in the end it's still going to be a game played for its versus mode.

A feature list is insignificant.

Realistically however it's not like we would verify someone's knowledge and experience in fighting games when asking them to vote on the matter. Bah whatever... I am forever going to hate on Mortal Kombat.... even though I really liked Deadly Alliance.

 

[duckroll]

So much furor about Tactics Ogre when it's clearly evident that Corpse Party was robbed of its spot in the horror list. General bias against PSP or just a sequence of unfortunate coincidences? You decide.

Spoiler

I'm certain that it's the latter.

Yeah this just points out how misguided a lot of the "genre" awards were. Unless they were categories which people actually voted on separately, it becomes confusing and open to too much debate as to why a game is here, or not there, or whatever.

 

[Durante]

Are Tactics Ogre and/or Corpse Party downloadable on the PS3? I want to play both but I don't have a PSP anymore.

Nope, they are PSP exclusives. Just buy a Vita
(Corpse Party will be fantastic on that display, the game should profit immensely from that OLED black level)

 

[benny_a]

Just to throw another thing in there. Fundamentally, what is the difference between Ocarina 3DS and the ICO/SotC collection?

One is a visual upgrade with added 3D, the other is... wait a minute.
You get my point.

If the latter would have been allowed, I would have put it in my top 3.

I agree on the genre awards. Gears 3 is in the same genre as Jamestown? That's just crazy.

 

[JaseC]

Genre results do not mean that much because we did not vote here on categories like "best soundtrack" or "best puzzles." You could put Portal 2 and Catherine on both puzzle and adventure lists but how many people here actually bought and played them because they are big puzzle game fans.

Speaking of soundtracks, SoTY ought to be absorbed into the GoTY threads as the former barely receives any attention in its current state. For instance, Xenoblade won SoTY 2011 with a mere 105 points and the voting thread didn't even reach five full pages. There's little to no merit in SoTY having a dedicated thread when the most recent winner only faintly broke the triple digit mark and the total amount of votes is well short of 250.

 

[Seda]

I counted 188 points for Tactics Ogre (someone else counted 189) which would put it out of the top overall 20 but dominate the Strategy Genre, and somewhere in the middle of the top ten handheld games.

 

[Haunted]

That's not what I am saying at all. Things like story mode were mentioned as to why Mortal Kombat is a more complete backage. I fail to see how fluff makes a game more complete that at its core versus play, either local or online is what's going to keep you playing the game.

A feature list is insignificant.

Well, that just depends on what you personally value in a game.

You can't tell someone who says that the total package is most important to him that's he's wrong, it's a matter of preference.

 

[Curufinwe]

What about repeated plays though? Right now for example, Xenoblade will be facing three years running of releases, right now you can't vote for it more than once. Ico HD is the best game released this year, but I don't think it's really fair to vote for it as such having played it years ago, even if it was eligible.

It's not even the best game on that disc.

 

[ghibli99]

This is why exclusion is lame. It makes no sense. If a port came out in 2011, and for someone that port is somehow his or her GOTY, why shouldn't it count? If enough people feel that way and such a port becomes the GOTY, it is not unfair to the other games which lost a position because of it. Instead it says something about the rest of the new games if people don't like them as much.

I'm kind of on the fence... perhaps a "port" category should be created, then. By your rationale above, even if a game in its original form is ported/released on XBLA or PSN in any given year, that gets counted too? At what point do you draw a line and say game X is OK and game Y isn't based on new/revised content? It gets too gray area, IMO. I don't know, though... just because a game doesn't make the list doesn't stop it from being a good game worth playing. If that were the case, we'd all be making our gameplaying decisions based off of lists from other sites while waiting for the GAF ones. But we don't.

 

[krYlon]

So much furor about Tactics Ogre when it's clearly evident that Corpse Party was robbed of its spot in the horror list. General bias against PSP or just a sequence of unfortunate coincidences? You decide.

Spoiler

I'm certain that it's the latter.

To be honest I'm even more pissed about Corpse Party.

Only awesome people know how awesome the PSP is

Oh, and I bet Ys I&II doesn't get counted either...

 

[StuBurns]

It's not even the best game on that disc.

I weep for your soul when judgement day cometh.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

SHOCKING EXCLUSIONS, INACCURATE GENRE CATEGORIES, ROCK GAF GOTY

OUR REPORTER IN THE FIELD RESPONDS

 

[Haunted]

SHOCKING EXCLUSIONS, INACCURATE GENRE CATEGORIES, ROCK GAF GOTY

OUR REPORTER IN THE FIELD RESPONDS

holy shit at the related mameshiba commercials.

I'm hooked.

 

[SykoTech]

1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Playstation 3)
2. LittleBigPlanet (Playstation 3)
3. Fallout 3 (PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360)
4. Left 4 Dead (PC, Xbox 360)
5. Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)
6. Grand Theft Auto IV (PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360)
7. Dead Space (PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360)
8. Fable II (Xbox 360)
9. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
10. Braid (Xbox 360)

LBP at #2?
And (looking back at the thread) Valkyria Chronicles almost cracked the Top 10?

Wow, GAF must have been an awesome place back then. Brawl was way too high though.

 

[shintoki]

It's not even the best game on that disc.

Its not even a good game. *Smirk*

I have no problem getting rid of ports that add nothing but an upscale. It would be like BG2 getting a new texture pack and a GoG release.

 

[Papercuts]

What about repeated plays though? Right now for example, Xenoblade will be facing three years running of releases, right now you can't vote for it more than once. Ico HD is the best game released this year, but I don't think it's really fair to vote for it as such having played it years ago, even if it was eligible.

Child of Eden is a rhythm game kind of, your points rely on doing your lock shots to the beat.

If someone thinks Ico HD is the best game of the year I don't see why they're being stopped, especially when a lot of people played it for the first time. Some people might vote it up even if they played it before, but I don't think it'd be significant enough to matter. RE4 is my second favorite game of all time, but I wouldn't vote the HD version in my list. Had I played it for the first time? I'd probably really want to.

That's not what I am saying at all. Things like story mode were mentioned as to why Mortal Kombat is a more complete backage. I fail to see how fluff makes a game more complete... when at its core versus play, either local or online, is what's going to keep you playing the game.

A feature list is insignificant.

Realistically however it's not like we would verify someone's knowledge and experience in fighting games when asking them to vote on the matter. Bah whatever....

There wasn't a vote on best fighting game, though. It was just grouped like that, and in that sense story and tower mode are very significant to the appeal of MK as a game in general.

 

[WrenchNinja]

That's not what I am saying at all. Things like story mode were mentioned as to why Mortal Kombat is a more complete backage. I fail to see how fluff makes a game more complete that at its core versus play, either local or online is what's going to keep you playing the game.

A feature list is insignificant.

What you consider fluff would be pretty important to that ten year old who doesn't get to buy a lot of games. Or that casual adult who does not have the time to find the nuance in every character.

I mean yeah, I was a kid when Street Fighter II was out and I was mostly satisfied playing single player trying to get to Bison, and was pretty happy to fight against friends when they came over but I think people these days expect more.

 

[sixteen-bit]

SHOCKING EXCLUSIONS, INACCURATE GENRE CATEGORIES, ROCK GAF GOTY

OUR REPORTER IN THE FIELD RESPONDS

that video is pretty awesome

 

[duckroll]

I agree with the "no ports/rereleases" rule in general, but there are exceptions for remakes or significantly enhanced/remade ports, and I thought TO was asked about in the voting thread and specifically allowed owing to the nature of the release.

But I don't feel that there is enough of a specific definition for "no ports" really. No re-releases, sure. If it's the same product on the same platform just pushed out into retail again under a budget label, no reasonable person would consider it a new release for the year. But when it comes to ports, it's not so clear. There can be countless debates about what is a "port" and what is a "remake" and so on.

In the end, I don't think there is a meaningful difference between OoT3D and ICO HD Collection and MGS HD Collection. They are all improved versions of old games, without any actual new content, on a brand new modern platform. Therefore they should all count. Instead of arguing about what should be excluded, we should just allow people to vote for what they really want to vote for as long as it is a new game released in that year. I don't see how the other little details matters, like whether there are 5 new textures, or whether there are 2 new models or 5 new models, or how many extra polygons the new models have. It's still the same game!

 

[Dark Schala]

Speaking of soundtracks, SoTY ought to be absorbed into the GoTY threads as the former barely receives any attention in its current state. For instance, Xenoblade won with a mere 105 points and the voting thread didn't even reach five full pages.

The only reason why that happened was because it was put up so late and two unofficial SotY threads were created prior to the official SotY thread (and thus people got kind of sick of being told to come back and vote). The SotY thread should remain separate since there are two people who know the musical genre pretty well managing that thread.

The 2010 thread seemed to have gotten more responses.

I counted 188 points for Tactics Ogre (someone else counted 189) which would put it out of the top overall 20 but dominate the Strategy Genre, and somewhere in the middle of the top ten handheld games.

Hmm...

 

[More Fun To Compute]

But genre categories are the only places we can see the super niche "Ray Charles" games that only 5 of us care about any more.

 

[RivalCore]

I'm not really too concerned about the what game gets what number (still a really good list and one that I agree with) but damn 2011 was a great year for games. And looking at the list I don't think I even got around to half of them.

 

[VerTiGo]

Well, that just depends on what you personally value in a game.

You can't tell someone who says that the total package is most important to him that's he's wrong, it's a matter of preference.

I usually would be saying something similar about subjective experiences etc...so damn you for that (I kid), but it's moments like these where I won't hide my bias. Mostly because UMvC3 is exponentially better game that Mortal Kombat -- as is Arcade Edition and KoF. Just sayin'...

 

[Nert]

Speaking of soundtracks, SoTY ought to be absorbed into the GoTY threads as the former barely receives any attention in its current state. For instance, Xenoblade won with a mere 105 points and the voting thread didn't even reach five full pages.

The problem with this logic is that every vote in the GOTY thread would have to become two votes, one for games and one for soundtracks, which seems bizarre. If you are only voting for games, you can still split that into genre and platform classifications, but every game has a soundtrack.

It's also only the second soundtrack of the year topic, so it'll probably take time to grow. It's still a struggle just to get other people to not make their own topics before the voting thread is up

All of the conversation regarding rules for voting eligibility reminds me that GhaleonQ and I will probably have to come up with some more concrete ones for the soundtrack thread. It'd be pretty dull if the U.S release of Xenoblade this year pushed that game into another award.

 

[pulga]

Fire and blood GAF! Take the fight to the commie bastards!

 

[Hawkian]

Very good list, well-done GAF. I've added a few things to my purchase list for when my backlog is... well, smaller.

 

[Evlar]

Speaking of soundtracks, SoTY ought to be absorbed into the GoTY threads as the former barely receives any attention in its current state. For instance, Xenoblade won SoTY 2011 with a mere 105 points and the voting thread didn't even reach five full pages. There's little to no merit in SoTY having a dedicated thread when the most recent winner only faintly broke the triple digit mark and the total amount of votes is well short of 250.

I disagree; I think the small voting pool is a good thing as it indicates that the voting is limited to those with particular interest in the soundtracks. Merging it into the GOTY thread would just have the effect of people without strong opinions filling in the SOTY list just because it's part of the game voting they're actually interested in.

 

[ultron87]

Hmm, I own and/or have access to (due to housemates owning them) every game in the top 20 except for the one that isn't available in NA yet.

I might buy too many games.

 

[Dark Schala]

All of the conversation regarding rules for voting eligibility reminds me that GhaleonQ and I will probably have to come up with some more concrete ones for the soundtrack thread. It'd be pretty dull if the U.S release of Xenoblade this year pushed that game into another award.

Yeah, not to go OT, but I was wondering what you'd do with Xenoblade. I mentioned that I listened to that soundtrack in 2010 in the voting thread, and thus I didn't vote for it. Given that it's being released in NA in 2012, it seems kind of weird to have it up for an award again... and presumably take the awards by storm again.

This is the exact reason why I didn't bother voting for FFXIII-2 or FFType-0 in 2011 as well.

 

[Meatvillain]

Seems a pretty good list to me. Skyrim was my personal favourite of the year - it just left me generally more excited about videogames than any other game in 2011. Before Skyrim surprised me Portal 2 was my pick, though, and I still think it's an extremely worthy winner.

 

[Jhriad]

Was hoping Minecraft would at least chart.